Tatarstan to develop new laws to protect intangible cultural heritage

“We just won't have anything to show the kids”

The problem is that it is not the visual images of the characters that are registered, but the phrases themselves, Minister of Culture of Tatarstan Irada Ayupova said at a briefing.

“First of all, these phrases have nothing to do with the activities of this organisation, which, according to our information, registered just yesterday. Secondly, they cannot be registered, because our literary heroes are our national treasure. Naturally, if we register Koshcheev Immortals and everything else as a trademark now, then we simply will have nothing to show the children, there will be nothing to bring them up on. They will demand money from us for every printed fairy tale," she said.

The ministry of culture of the republic has already contacted Rospatent about this problem. Now the department is preparing an appeal to prevent the names of folklore heroes from being patented. The application is being prepared together with Rospatent's lawyers.

The theatre is not going to pay the money demanded by the National Toys. If necessary, they are ready to sue.

“There is such a practice, we've studied it with our lawyers. We are confident that victory will be on our side," Ayupova said.

She compared the attempt to make money on the national treasure to “consumer extremism.” At the same time, the requirement for theatres to pay for the use of national heroes is not the only problem that may arise due to the imperfection of the patenting system:

“Okay, we're talking about performances where there is Su anasy. But if, let's say, they sell, excuse me, this is the name for the production of alcoholic beverages? How will we react to this?

State Council of Tatarstan will deal with the problem of protecting the national heritage

It is impossible to call the current situation a precedent, the minister of culture believes. According to Rospatent, such events began to happen in different regions of Russia.

“It is necessary to arrange the issues of registration of such patents very clearly and in a regulated manner. We won't go anywhere without patent law. This is correct, it is a global practice. But in order for the system to be transparent, obvious and logical, you just need to agree on the rules of the game on this shore," Ayupova believes.

In her opinion, for this it is necessary to regulate legislation, to build an open regulation. We need an open deposit system and a unified register of national assets — brands that are prohibited from monopolising.

So far, more attention is being paid to the accounting of handicrafts, Ayupova noted. The craftsmen were the first to encounter situations when one or another organisation patented folk crafts.

“We have now come to the conclusion that we need to come up with a legislative initiative. The new composition of the State Council of Tatarstan has started its work. The agenda for the coming year is being formed now. And we plan to link one of the initiatives, including with the topic of protecting our national heritage from the illegal use of certain names and patents," the minister of culture assured.

According to her, Tatarstan will try to take the appropriate initiative at the federal level. At that time, Ayupova called for a balanced approach to solving the problem:

“It is very important not to throw the baby out with water here. Indeed, we have situations where, for example, certain works of craftsmen are openly used without remuneration. There should be copyright protection. But it shouldn't be absurd.”

The World Forum of Tatar Youth also spoke in defense of Tatar fairy tales. The organisation sent a letter to the head of Rospatent, Yury Zubov, in which it asked to cancel the protection of these trademarks from National Toys PLC in connection with a violation of Section II of Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Copyright and Related Rights”, according to which works of folk art are not objects of copyright.